Biofeedback and Control of Skin Cell Proliferation in Psoriasis

Abstract

The present study was designed to determine the effect of skin-temperature-biofeedback training on cellular proliferation in three psoriasis patients. It was hypothesized that (a) psoriasis patients would be able to consciously decrease skin temperature of psoriatic tissue, and (b) there would be a positive correlation between rate of cellular proliferation and temperature change.Results obtained indicated biofeedback training to be effective in decreasing the surface temperature of psoriatic tissue.A 2 X 7 analysis of variance for two repeated measures indicated the change in skin temperatures as a function of sample period to be significant, F (6,26) = 3.29, p < .02.Generalization of temperature-training effects from the biofeedback to the no-feedback condition were observed. Rate of proliferation decreased from pretraining to posttraining biopsies.

Psoriasis and psychiatry: An update

“…Several studies [70,71] have reported that temperature biofeedback training was associated with a significant decrease in the severity of psoriasis. The efficacy of this method appears to be related…”

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Psychological Interventions in Patients with Psoriasis: A Review

“…Benoit and Harrell demonstrated that biofeedback training was effective in enabling subjects with severe psoriasis to decrease voluntarily the surface temperature of psoriatic tissue. 8 They also showed that the cell-turnover rate decreased in biopsies from pretraining to posttraining, although statistical analysis was not done due to the small number of participants (N = 3). Two subjects showed considerable clinical improvement and one subject showed slight improvement in all psoriatic plaques, with improvements still evident at 4-month follow-up.…”